Rating: 
Summary: PLEASE DO NOT BUY THIS BOOK!
Review: Just like another viewer, I started reading 3001 while training my Dragon voice-recognition system. I liked it, didn't love it, but was a dedicated 2001 fan, so bought it, violating my own rule about book length (it's short). There is not enough content in here for a decent screenplay, let alone a novel. No characters except the one we already knew, no real plot, dialogue, or content. Then, enjoy an additional thirty pages or so of acknowledgements BY CHAPTER! I'm sorry for bad contracting requiring another book of a designated length, but this is ridiculous! I actually have to thank the illustrious author, for giving me faith in my own writing. I have this irresistable urge to finish writing this book. It IS a good outline. I just don't normally buy works in progress. Save the money, wait for the movie, it will be longer and more interesting, if it ever gets made.
Rating: 
Summary: A major disappointment from an old master.
Review: Clarke establishes a lot of fascinating concepts and goes about describing them in an interesting manner. But overall the novel is very short on plot. You are left with the feeling that he set out to write an epic, but got tired, thinned it out, and ended it quickly. Also, the bringing-back-to-life of Poole- with intact memory and mental faculties- is not very believable.
Rating:
Summary: 3001: NaturallySpeaking
Review: I'll concede upfront that I've had an unusual exposure to this book, but I have to say that what I saw of it was awful. What happened? I selected it as the training text when I installed Dragon's NaturallySpeaking speech recognition software recently. Here's how bad it was: I giggled and scoffed so much when I was reading the text that I finally had to start over with a different text. I don't know if I've created a new book reviewing metric, but 3001 definitely fails the NaturallySpeaking test.
Rating:
Summary: A tragic failure that should not have been allowed to happen
Review: I *love* AC Clarke, and I love his short stories and novels, especially the 2001 series. However, this is a bad book -- a failure that should not have been allowed to happen. He starts out really well -- Frank Poole, alive, as a vehicle to explore the future. Great! But there is no story, no mystry, nothing but a few admitedly neat ideas about the future (love the towers) and nothing else. Skip this book, and check out the Red Mars series instead.
Rating:
Summary: What happened here?
Review: I began reading the series with 2001 just so I could read up to 3001. I was fascinated by the Star Child, mesmerized by the monoliths, the Jupiter explosion, the diamond, and the Europans...reached 3001 and was greatly disappointed. Frankly, 2010 blows this out of the water. There were some interesting ideas here, but I was just about sick of the antireligious diatribe by the last few chapters and almost didn't finish. None of the other books were like that--more scientific than philosophical, and actually believable. Where are the theories? The evolutions? The mind-blowing ideas? Here, it just seemed like Clarke wanted to make a last sermon against Christianity, rather than wrapping up a magnificent story. I'm not sure he gives his readers enough credit for suspending their disbelief long enough to take in the story, and somehow wants to force us into believing the future his way by insulting any beliefs we may or may not have. But would we have even made it this far in the series if we couldn't do that? Enough is enough. Thank heavens this is the end. Luckily, I have selective memory, and will only remember that the first three, or at least the first two, were beautiful.
Rating: 
Summary: Great glimpse into 1000 year future, story falls short
Review: Clarke had the right idea. Let's show 'em where we are in a thousand years! Let's make a diamond band around the Earth, hell, let's even bring back Frank Poole, but in the end....the story just wasn't there. The great things about this book are the scientific wonders and descriptions, the bad things? Frank Poole just didn't carry the book like he could have. Not enough of the story stressed the Monolith, at times the story dragged, and the ending was rushed...to the point of confustion. But it's Clarke, it makes you think, it shakes the foundation of arrogant presumption upon which you live, and it deserves 3 stars.
Rating: 
Summary: An Interesting Glimpse Into the Distant Future
Review: When I first read this book I was unable to put it down. It is a fitting end to the great 2001 series and is definetely better than 2061. It wraps things up nicely as to the future destiny of the Earth. A worthwhile read.
Rating:
Summary: What a waste of time!
Review: I keep hoping that this book would go somewhere or at leaste give you something to think about. A best a poorly written unimaginative and already done many times story.
Rating:
Summary: An intriguing and thought provoking novel. Excellent work.
Review: Although the actual plot left something to be desired, I consider this an excellent book. Clarke's main purpose was, I believe, not to entertain but to question. If you really read it and went between the lines, you will notice the remarks about today's society. But Clarke couldn't write a whole book just about that. He had to involve some plot to it, and decided that the Space Odyssey series was the best suited. If you loved the rest of the series, and if you like thought provoking works, I highly reccomend this book.
Rating:
Summary: Massive Dissapointment for a Great Series
Review: I read each of the books in the series and eagerly anticipated this final work. Never have I been more dissapointed in an ending than this book. I have to wonder what writing is left in Arthur. Very sad.
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